


sign of the times

by ByTheAngell (SomeLittleInfamy)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M, but vague enough that they aren't really, slight spoilers for 3x12
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 05:36:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18004817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeLittleInfamy/pseuds/ByTheAngell
Summary: "Magnus was content to let the years pass by around him, picking up on a thing or two here and there but never placing much value on truly immersing himself entirely in any single time period’s particulars.Until now."





	sign of the times

**Author's Note:**

> References to moments in 3x12 but nothing overly spoilery!

Magnus never cared much for getting caught up in the technology or passing slang of any given year, or even decade. Everything evolved so quickly it never mattered - the moment he got the hang of one thing, a new one came to take its place, and almost none of it was overly useful to him while he had his magic anyway. After a while he stopped trying. It wasn’t important, not in the grand scheme of the centuries that stretched out both behind and in front of him. He had too much knowledge to cultivate to waste time on temporary trends. 

No, Magnus was content to let the years pass by around him, picking up on a thing or two here and there but never placing much value on truly  _ immersing  _ himself entirely in any single time period’s particulars. 

Until now. 

Now, he realizes with a paralyzing sense of finality, the next forty to fifty years are all he has left. Suddenly the idea of allowing the next decade or two of literature or apps or millennial slang to pass by under his radar stops him dead in his tracks, because he won’t be moving on to something else in a handful of decades. This is it for him now. The world he lives in, the one he was once so content to allow to pass by in a haze of changes and adaptations he could pick and choose from as he pleased, is the last world he’s going to witness. 

He isn’t sure when he makes the conscious decision to absorb every last detail of the years he has left, but soon he finds himself searching the most popular apps, researching slang, and updating himself of the most recent mundane inventions. He digs out a digital camera someone got him as a gift a few years back (which he never pictured himself using), and suddenly finds himself photographing  _ everything _ : every place he goes, his friends, Alec - anything he might forget a few years down the road when his memory starts to go. 

He’s using slang, catching which ones are hits and which are misses by the expressions on Alec’s face when he tests them out in casual conversation. Half the time he’s trying too hard and has to explain to Alec what they mean, discovering little nuances like favoring FOMO over YOLO despite their similar motivations, and silently judging himself for suddenly feeling as if he needs to use either to fit in and make the most of the time he lives in now. 

One of the last times he will ever live in. The last trends he’ll experience. 

Last. Last. Last. 

He’s moving too fast and not fast enough all at once. There’s too much to experience, too much to learn, and not enough time. He makes lists, plans entire weeks worth of itineraries. He researches at night, preps in the morning, and  _ goes  _ during the day, taking Alec along for as much as he can until Alec tells him to stop. To slow down. To savor the moments they’re in. 

Magnus says that he’s right. Of course he’s right. But he doesn’t believe the words even as he says them. An extra hour spent lounging in bed is one more city he’ll never get to experience, one more restaurant he’ll never get to try. He can’t savor a moment that might be his last. He can’t enjoy a place not knowing when the next time he’ll visit it is, because he can’t portal there on a whim any more. 

He can’t embrace these moments, because embracing involves acceptance, and he isn’t there yet. 

He isn’t sure he ever will be.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> (Find me on [Tumblr](http://bytheangell.tumblr.com) and also on [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/By_The_Angell) while we all hang out waiting for someone to #SaveShadowhunters ! <3)


End file.
